


"As long as nobody breaks my stride."

by Leafy_Leafster



Category: Inanimate Insanity (Web Series)
Genre: making more CHAPS, uhhhhhhhhh this is gonna have taco/mic in it maybe if i ever like get around to fuckin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:40:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29965818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leafy_Leafster/pseuds/Leafy_Leafster
Summary: A planned apology is scrapped when its forced to take place in the present.Taco and Microphone have a lot to talk about.TW FOR AB/SE TALKED ABOUT
Relationships: Microphone & Taco (Inanimate Insanity), mentioned, no romance! yet!, taco & pickle (inanimate insanity)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	"As long as nobody breaks my stride."

**Author's Note:**

> (NOTE: the titanic deck chair quote is from the Mcelroys, the title is from the song "Borderline" by Tove Styrke. )  
> ALSO I WILL TRY TO MAKE MROE CHAPTERS TO THIS BUT I ??? PROMISE NOTHING  
> \--
> 
> “AUGH this isn’t working! It’s all rubbish! I can’t do this.” Grabbing the page she was writing on, she crumples it and tosses it at the ground, it bounces once , and rolls out of the edge of the clearing. Taco grumbled hopelessly.  
> Microphone walks aimlessly into the forest, searching. She knows it was around here somewhere, the question is where. Of course, Microphone herself is at least semi-prone to getting a little sidetracked. This is exactly what happens when she finds herself face to face with a crumpled up paper rolling out of the brush.

Taco paces around the stump fumbling with a notepad and pen, mumbling to herself. The beams of afternoon sunlight streak across her face as she walks. Scribbling and apologies break the bird song and wind.  
“I’m sorry I..Hurt? No, that won’t do. I’m sorry for trying to-..No, incorrect, there was not trying, only success. Ugh!” She grips the notepad, staring up at the trees. She frowns, her hand smudges the ink on the pad. With a sigh, she sits down on the stump, and forces herself to flip to the next page and start again.  
“Apologies. How do you say sorry? I never got it right with Pickle. Or maybe it was just too late? I have no way to know and no one will tell me. Not yet, not now.” She begins to write again.  
‘Microphone, I’m sorry for using you, you don’t deserve to be used. Neither does anyone else I did that too, but maybe I…’  
“AUGH this isn't working! It’s all rubbish! I can’t do this.” Grabbing the page she was writing on, she crumples it and tosses it at the ground, it bounces once , and rolls out of the edge of the clearing. Taco grumbled hopelessly.  
Microphone walks aimlessly into the forest, searching. She knows it was around here somewhere, the question is where. Of course, Microphone herself is at least semi-prone to getting a little sidetracked. This is exactly what happens when she finds herself face to face with a crumpled up paper rolling out of the brush. If someones fucking with her diary again she swears to god. She picks up the crumpled mess and opens it, as she slowly approached the clearing. The handwriting is messy, she strains to read the words. But before she succeeded, someone cuts her off.  
“..Microphone?” Taco asked, almost dropping the notepad and pen as she stands up. Microphones heart jumps. Great, this is the last thing she needs right now.  
“Microphone, what are you..Doing here?” Microphone let out a sigh, and walked around the clearing as she talked. “Looking for my diary. I was kind of HOPING you wouldn’t be here, but that’s fine too!” Ouch. Not like it’s undeserved, though. There’s a few seconds of horrible nail biting silence before Taco speaks up, finally. Maybe she doesn’t need to write this down, she figures. When is she going to get another chance like this, anyway? It needs to be now. But she still hesitates, if just for a second.  
“Microphone, I--” She cuts herself off. Microphone stops, but doesn’t turn to face her. A second or two passes.  
“I wanted to apologise. I was using you, just like I used everyone else all that time ago. I thought I--. I thought this was better than the last time, but in the end I was just doing the same thing. I could say that I didn’t want to lie to you, but that’s not true. I don’t want it now, but I thought keeping the whole truth from you was an okay thing to do. There’s no excuse for what I’ve done.” Taco takes a deep breath in, and out. “I just hope you can forgive me. But if you can’t.. I understand.” She was looking at the ground, clenching a fist. She knows it’s too late for anything to come of her and Pickle. She just hopes she was quick enough this time.  
“..Taco,” Microphone began. She turned and walked forward. “Tell me why.”  
“Pardon?” “No more secrets. If you want to apologise, I want to know why you ever thought this was okay to do.”  
Taco exhales, adjusting her bow a bit too nervously. “I suppose that’s only fair.” Taking a breath, she begins.  
“I could say I was similar to Balloon, somewhat. On a bigger scale, of course. Creating an identity to win a prize. I wanted to be someone I wasn’t. Someone who had power. Someone who hurt people without thinking twice. I’m not someone like that, I can’t pretend to be someone like that. I only ended up hurting everyone involved, including myself. My plan, it was never going to win. What was I going to do if I won? Pretend to be stupid until I finally kick the bucket? Or was I supposed to just leave, living alone with my prize. Neither of them were good outcomes, I was rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.” She takes a deep breath. “I was never good at being..’Good’. I was different from all my peers, and shunned for it. And that, to me, made me think that being ‘Good’ was a lost cause. And if I couldn’t do that, then I would be the best as being.. The worst.” Taco motions with her hands, sighing. A lot of breaths had been happening, shaky breaths. Taco found it hard to breathe correctly when confronting the one thing she had been running from for years. “I don’t know if there’s any coming back from this, but you at least deserve an apology.”  
Microphone found herself frowning. This wasn’t the Taco that stole her diary, nor the Taco that killed Test Tube. But this was the Taco she saw when…  
“At the lab,” Microphone began. “When you reached for the portal, is that why you-” …  
“Yes, I-- I thought I could.. I don’t know. It was stupid, I know nothing of timetravel mumbo-jumbo. An empty thought, a tired wish. I didn't want to tell you because it was, frankley, embarrassing. I wanted no show of weakness on my part.” “Taco..” Microphone lets out a sigh as she sits down on the stump. “I don’t know if I can forgive you right now. You manipulated me into doing a lot of things I’m going to regret for years. But.. I don’t think you’re a bad person. You’re just.. Lost. I think.” She hopes. She hopes dearly this isn't another ploy. Taco stands there, wind blowly gently on her.  
“I think you deserve a friend-- A real one- And I can be that person, you just have to stop using people. It’s--” “No- Yes, I know- I don’t want to hurt anyone else.” She didint feel real saying this. This is such a bad move, something says as it nags at the back of her head. You can still succeed. But she doesn’t even want to win anymore. Microphone schooches a bit to the side, and pats the stump, signaling for Taco to sit with her.  
A second chance, perhaps?


End file.
